Victims of cyberbullying now have the law on their side to protect themselves from bullies.

The power to report cyberbullies could stop them from spreading private pictures and hateful messages online, according to Glen Canning, Rehtaeh Parson’s father.

When a picture of Rehtaeh’s alleged sexual assault in 2012 was circulating on the Internet, nothing was done to stop it, according to Canning. Rehtaeh was bullied non-stop for two weeks after the assault, according to Canning and the bullying continued for 18 months, until her death.

He says that people wouldn’t spread hateful messages “if they knew police in Halifax were watching them and they are getting their IP address and they’re going to go after them for criminal harassment.”

Nova Scotia’s Cyber Safety Act was first introduced in April, after Rehtaeh was removed from life support following a suicide attempt. The act became active in Nova Scotia on Aug.7.  Justice Minister Ross Landry announced the new legislation which gives victims who are being bullied the power to report their cyberbullies and to file a protection order to stop the circulation of messages about them.

The protection orders, filed to the Justice of the Peace Centre, can identify the cyberbullies through IP addresses and gives the power to restrict bullies from the Internet.

Time to act

“In our daughter’s case, we initially came forward and nothing was done, and it’s shameful,” said Canning.

“There was an opportunity at the very start of this to do something to help her and it’s almost like everyone just watched it happen there and didn’t do anything.”

The important thing, according to Canning is educating people and to give parents the tools and knowledge to fight against cyberbullying. ‘Speak Up!’ a conference in Nova Scotia devoted to bullying awareness, will hold a special seminar for parents called “Parenting in a Digital Age,” and will help teach parents how to talk to their kids about cyberbullying. The conference runs Aug. 16-17.

Landry announced that the changes will also look at the responsibility of the parents of cyberbullies. Parents will now be held legally responsible for cyberbullying, according to the new legislation.

“Bell doesn’t enter into contracts with 15 year old kids, they get that stuff from their parents,” said Canning.

“The kids aren’t the ones who sign those contracts, those contracts are signed by adults and those adults should be responsible for whatever happens on that device … both legally and financially.”

First step for Canada

This cyber-safety law is the first of its kind in Canada, but other provinces, like British Columbia and Saskatchewan have already announced their support for cyberbullying prevention.

Currently, the Government of Canada is also still looking at a report from June that looks into the restrictions of non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Restrictions are what Canning said could have prevented his daughter’s death. In Rehtaeh’s case, he stated, people could have stepped in and more could have been done to prevent her from being bullied.

“I’m happy, that it’s being taken seriously, I really hope that something better can come out of this,” said Canning.

The Cyber-Safety Act includes Canada’s first ever cyberbullying investigative unit, Cyber SCAN, which according to Landry will be starting work in September. The unit, which started hiring on June 6, will have five investigators to look into any claims made under the Cyber Safety Act. Roger Merrick, a former police officer, will direct the unit.

“Like any law though, it’s only going to be as good as the people who enforce it,” said Canning.

With the new enforcement, Canning hopes that people will “understand the consequences of not doing anything or failing to take it seriously.”

Canada’s corrections watchdog remains dismayed by the federal government’s inaction in dealing with offenders with serious mental health issues

Offender self-harm a growing concern

Ivan Zinger, Executive Director and General Counsel, Office of the Correctional Investigator, recently spoke out about the continuing lack of reform by Correctional Services Canada in properly addressing offender self-harm in federal penitentiaries.

Zinger echoed Correctional Investigator Howard Saper’s plea for reform at The Congress on Law and Mental Health in Amsterdam in July where he presented a paper about self-injury in Canadian federal correctional institutions.

Self-injurious behaviour includes the use of razors or other sharp objects for “cutting”, head-banging, self-strangulation and the ingestion or insertion of sharp objects into the body.

Mandate of the Correctional Investigator

The Office of the Correctional Investigator acts as an Ombudsman for federally sentenced offenders.  It represents, therefore, the interests of offenders who are serving a sentence of two years or more.

One of the Investigator’s mandates is to determine whether the Correctional Service of Canada is acting “fairly, reasonably and in compliance with law and policy” when dealing with offenders.  Importantly, the Correctional Investigator makes ongoing recommendations to ensure accountability in Canada’s federal penitentiaries.

In the fiscal year 2011-2012, the Correctional Investigator responded to 5.600 offender complaints and reviewed more than 140 deaths and incidents of serious bodily harm by inmates in the federal penitentiary system.

Self-harm among inmates in Canada

In his Annual Report to Parliament in October 2012, the Correctional Investigator notes that the inmate population across Canada has increased 3.7 per cent since March 2011.

The number of inmates participating in serious self-harm has tripled in the last five years.

Sapers is alarmed by the rapidly increasing rate of self-injury incidents in prisons in general and the the increasing number per offender in particular.

The number of self-harm incidents, compared to the number of inmates involved, rose from 261 per 160 inmates in 2003-2004 to a staggering 901 per 264 inmates in 2012-2013. 

Sixteen per cent of female offenders in medical or psychiatric cells were found to self-injure frequently, compared to seven per cent of male inmates.

Self-harm among women inmates rose from 43 in 2003-2004 to 323 in 2012-2013.

Position  of the Correctional Service of Canada

In Commissioner’s Directive 843 regarding the management of inmate self-injurious and suicidal behaviour, issued on July 21, 2011, the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada states that the policy objective of the Service, when faced with issues of self-harm, is to “ensure the safety of inmates who are self-injurious or suicidal using the least restrictive measures for the purpose of preserving life and preventing serious bodily injury, while maintaining the dignity of the inmate in a sale and secure environment.

The Directive also calls for the immediate transfer of mentally ill inmates to regional treatment centres or appropriate health care facilities if required mental health assessments cannot be facilitated in the regular prison environment.

The Directive also encourages and supports “an interdisciplinary approach so that the inmate can resume regular activities as soon as possible”.

Saper, however, does not believe this directive is being followed consistently in federal penitentiaries across Canada

Recommendations of the Correctional Investigator

Sapers notes that a disproportionate number of self-harm incidents occur when inmates are kept in segregation, forensic psychiatric centres and maximum security institutions where the use of force and physical restraint is often employed to manage self-injurious offenders.

Sapers recommends in his latest annual report that there be an absolute prohibition on the practice of placing mentally ill offenders and those at risk of suicide or serious self-injury in long term segregation.

Sapers stresses that self-injury cases need to be managed as mental health issues and not primarily as security incidents.  He pleads for Correctional Services Canada to expand the use of alternative mental health delivery options, recognizing that a federal institution is not the appropriate place for treating complex cases of self-injury. 

Canada’s first forensic padded cell

Sapers is especially alarmed by the fact that the first padded cell in a forensic facility in Canada was constructed at the Saskatoon Regional Psychiatric Centre in March of 2011.   

The cell was specially built by Correctional Services Canada to accommodate one particular female who engages in chronic self-injury by head-banging.  

In addition to its barren rubberized walls, the space has a primitive grate in its floor, in place of a normal prison toilet.

Corrections Canada maintains the cell was built “for therapeutic reasons” to provide management with the least restrictive environment to address self-injury, and that it was created on the advice of an unnamed internationally-recognized forensic psychiatrist.

To date, the cell has not been occupied and Sapers hopes this fact means that Correctional Services Canada has determined it to be “inappropriate.”   

In Recommendation 16 of his report, Sapers calls for an absolute prohibition of padded cells in all Correctional Services of Canada treatment facilities, stating bluntly that “there is no role for a padded cell in a correctional facility”.

He also notes that the use of padded cells require full-time medical supervision and are controversial even in a mental health setting where the first responders are health care professionals and placement decisions are made exclusively by health care providers.

Self-harm in the spotlight

The issues of self-harm and the treatment of mental health in federal correctional institutions has become prominent in light of the current inquiry into the death of 19 year-old Ashley Smith while in custody at Joliette Federal Institution in 2007.

Of particular concern to the Smith inquiry is the fact that the persons in authority at the Institution who were making daily decisions affecting the mental health and physical well-being of female inmates such as Ashley Smith, had virtually no training in the areas of risk assessment and treatment of offenders with mental health problems – especially those involving serious self-injury.

The program designed to help people affected by Canada’s 7.1 per cent total unemployment rate is tightening its guidelines, according to a report from the federal government’s spending watchdog. While these guidelines are changing, government groups are developing new systems to try and find ways to prevent overpayment and fraud. More than $578 million in employment insurance over-payments or ineligible payments went out last year, and according to a recent report from the Auditor General of Canada, only about $295 million are anticipated in repayments.

The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) is responsible for employment insurance benefits and currently, they are working on a plan to not only get a return on over-payments already made, but also to prevent them in the future. Applicants receiving employment insurance receive 55 per cent of their yearly income, as determined by their records of employment.The former HRSDC minister and MP Diane Finley released the department’s plans for reform in April of this year outlining how the program will continue to improve its efficiency and timeliness when granting EI benefits to applicants in need.

Currently, over-payments account for about 5 per cent of all of the funds that employment insurance puts out throughout the year, with a total spend of $16.8 billion in benefits payments in the 2011-2012 year. In order to lessen potential loss to Employment insurance benefits, Auditor General Michael Ferguson, asks the department to use more of its available information to help in identifying over-payments.

The priority of the Human Resources and Skills Development department is to continue to offer relief to people affected by unemployment, with efforts focusing on limiting the chance for over-payments and fraud.

Investigator manual leaked

After a manual for investigators of EI responsible for detecting fraud was leaked in February, Finley faced questioning in the House of Commons, stating that what were reported as quotas to find $500,000 in fraud payments detected annually, were only targets. Since the leak, the NDP has been arguing against the Conservative methods of finding ineligible EI claims, stating that the audits as part of a new pilot program to seek out fraud including knocking on doors and checking personal documents. This pilot program has been met with a lot of scrutiny from government opposition as well as from Canadians. The program is not confirmed by the government and is not outlined in the HRDSC’s plan for reform. “The Conservatives have launched a witch-hunt against unemployed Canadians – sending EI inspectors on house calls and forcing investigators to meet quotas for cutting people off of their benefits,” said Heather Finn, a spokesperson for MP Chris Charlton.

Part of the new plans for the development of the program is focusing efforts on detecting and preventing fraud, while still providing benefits to those in need. As the NDP and the Conservatives argue over what is fraud and what is a mistake, it shows that the system for paying EI benefits is not perfect yet. While the NDP insist that providing staff to help applicants fill out paperwork correctly is the answer, the Conservatives are cutting staff and moving employment records online.

Workforce under change

In a March 4th, 2013 question period in the House of Commons, MP Diane Finley told the Speaker of the House about Service Canada’s responsibility to stop any and all irresponsible claims. Also in her 2013-14 report plan outline, the importance of efficiency and fast response to claims is outlined, but as of May 31, 2013 the government issued notices that 21,734 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada that they might lose their jobs in the next three years. The Conservative party is continuing in efforts to make faster approval of employment insurance applications, while also catching over-payments and fraud before they can happen. At the same time, they are investing in a computer-based approval system, to streamline the process and put out more resources without having to hire on more staff.

3863 of the public service workers that were issued work force amendment notices were employees in the Human Resources and Skills Development department. “The Department (HRDSC) is the hardest hit by ‘affected’ notices with 3863 positions potentially on the block,” said Heather Finn via email.

Technological Improvements

Technology is a big part of the department’s moves to online, and faster response time, with new system to be used by both employers and employees. The audit report shows that the department already uses automated programs, and with the new online format, more information will be available for assessments. At the moment, no new information is available about the status of employment insurance or the department since May 31, but according to Heather Finn, cuts to processing staff has slowed down the processing of EI claims.

Diane Finley’s office was unavailable for reply, but in the HRDSC’s report for the coming year, a new automated system of processing applications is discussed. The system will take the employment records necessary for an online EI claim, and use it to help employers keep more accurate records of their weekly payroll and employee hours. The plan for the improvements to be made to the department is estimated for June 30, 2014.

The Ontario government has yet to address ‘overspending’ on services for troubled teens.  According to the most recent auditor general’s report, spending by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services has increased by 30 per cent in the past five years, but the number of youth helped has only gone up by 5 per cent.

Unjust distribution of funds

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services aims to help youth integrate into their communities and turn away from crime. They offer a variety of services from summer job search workshops to drug counseling to detention centers for youth in trouble with the law. The programs are offered at several different centers across the province. Some of the centers are directly operated by the ministry while others are given government funding but operated independently, the latter are called transfer-payment centers.

Both the government centers and those that are independent are authorized to offer the same programming.  The programs requiring the most staff are the secure residential programs. The staff working in these programs take care of teens who are in trouble with the law and need to be watched 24 hours a day. The secure services are operated in the same way in both government and independent centers. However the ministry directly operates two thirds of the secure residential beds, yet it receives three-quarters of the government funding in this area. This means that the transfer-payment centers are working with less money to provide the same services

That isn’t the only area where there is a discrepancy in funds. There are no standard procedures for how funding for a program is decided. If there were, it would be easy to decide how much money to give a center, they would know how much it cost per youth per day per program, and then they would multiply this number by the number of youth in a program to show how much money they need form the ministry. Instead, the ministry decides funding on a case by case basis. This leaves funds being divided unjustly. For example, the ministry approved $107,000 in funding for a program at one center and gave another center $165,000 for running to exact same program for the same number of youth.
 

Facilities are underused and overstaffed

The report also found that only 60 per cent of the secure beds available are being used. Staff levels should reflect this, but instead all facilities are staffed as if they are at capacity. The centers actually now spend 50 per cent more on staff than they did five years ago. The auditor general attempted to find a reason for this by inspecting the workload of the staff. The auditor discovered that staff were actually taking on fewer cases. This means that while the amount spent on staff and the number of staff increased, the amount of work each person does has decreased.

In its plans for 2011/12, the Ontario government stated that it would continue to fund thousands of secure beds in the residential programs. There is no mention of the successes or shortcomings of the program in the previous year(s). Shortly after this briefing was released, the auditor general found that the number of beds, staff, and even centers, were potentially unnecessary.

Recommendations received, no changes yet

The ministry of youth services is divided into four regions. Randy Sandvick is the regional manager of youth services in the northern region. He explained that it is a positive sign that fewer youth are using the programs because it means they are committing fewer crimes. When asked about the reason for the staff increase, he said that the ministry is offering more programs. He emphasized that the ministry is using innovative programs to help youth. This still does not address the need for extra staff, as the existing surplus staff were not transferred to these programs, instead new staff were hired. Sandvick refused to comment on whether there was too much or too little work for staff, instead he said that legislation requires each center to have a specific number of staff and that centers in his region follow this protocol. There has been no downsizing of staff or centers in Sandvick’s region in the past year.

The ministry accepted some of the auditor general’s suggestions. Primarily, the ministry agreed to perform a three-year study on the effectiveness of programs and to adjust funding accordingly. This report came out over six months ago and so far, the ministry has not made any changes. No facilities have been closed or downsized and rather than changing or eliminating some programs, the ministry has instead added more programs and staff. Taxpayer dollars are still being spent on half-empty facilities and employees that aren’t fulfilling minimum workload expectations.